Camel riding in Broome

This is us camel riding in Broome.

Great to be be back at church

We were back at church this morning and how good it was to be back,
especially seeing friends that we hadn't seen for ages! Matt
Whitfield has done a terrific job in our absence and things were
blazing at full strength. Con Campbell gave an outstanding talk on
the Spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6 with lots of Old Testament
references. I want to look up angels in the Bible as a result.

A scary trip across Ivanhoe Crossing, Kununurra, NW Australia

Now we are back I've edited up this video of crossing at Ivanhoe Crossing, Kununurra. It was scary!

Pythons and Crocodiles at Adelaide River

I'm gradually editing up the videos from our trip. This one was from October 18 at Adelaide River, just north of the Kakadu National Park.

Matt & Bel for dinner

It was great to have Matt and Bel for dinner on Friday after dinner on Thursday night with Mum and Dad and Janet on Wednesday night.

Matt & Matt & Apple

I spent most of my last day of long service leave meeting with Matt Lemsing and Matt Whitfield. We went over our 2009 budget with a fine tooth comb. We've had some disappointing news financially over the last fortnight and lots of prayer and generosity is going to be required.

Then I headed to the Apple Shop in town. Cathie lent on the LCD screen of my macbook in Katherine and broke the screen. Sad as the bill for a repair is $850.

School

Wild horses couldn't have stopped the kids from going to school today. They are so excited to be seeing their friends again.

Solomon: 'This is such a big house!'
Dad: 'It is compared to a caravan!'

Back to Annandale & Stanmore

Cathie drove Hannah in to the inner west in Janet's car while the boys and I drove in the 4WD. As we came through Marrickville Solomon asked if we could drive past chruch to see what had happened there while were were away. It thrilling to see the back wall up and the columns that will back the back of the enlarged auditorium.

Mat and Ros (who have been living in our house) were on hand to great us and Matt helped put the campervan in the carport. I took the jeep down to the car detailers to have it properly cleaned for Peter and Vini (who lent it to us). And then we started the huge taske of packing and sorting.

It was a little silly how many things we unpacked that we had taken all the way around the country and not used. Some books that I had planned to read, some sporting equipment, some baking trays. All sorts of things. But we just laughed.

Mum and Dad were at the my sister's daughter Kalani's birthday and so they came for dinner which was great (takeaway pizza).

We slept in our own beds. The house seems much darker than the caravan and the our bedroom strangely dark and private. We had to open up more windows because we were used to more of a breeze.

21,350km and we have done it! It's good to be home.

To Grans' at Sylvania

Wednesday morning we were up early, packed the campervan and headed to Sylvania to visit Janet (Cathie's mum)., who of course we haven't seen for several months. We arrived at lunchtime and enjoyed our first meal with a table cloth in 90 days. It was lovely to catch up with her and Neville and the kids just overflowed with stories and information.

The children slept in Janet's spare room and Cathie and I stayed in the campervan (again the first time in threee months that the five of us hadn't slept in the campervan).

It was strange not waking up with the children on the other side of the campervan and we were early for breakfast. Excited to be back in Sydney. Then we gave the campervan a huge clean out and put everything from inside the van in Janet's car (because we can't put the van up in our car port) and headed home.

Cathie on the wires in the car

In the trip around Australia we covered 21,000 kilometers. To make life managable in the car we had a Navman (for directions), a lap top (for the kids to watch videos, email and blog), an iphone to listen to music and a freezer (to keep food cold). This meant quite a few wires.

From Longreach to Mount Isa

These are some of the towns we visited along the way from Longreach to Mount Isa.

Mark Dixon with Dominic Steele

At Wycliff Well in the NT (between Alice Springs and Darwin) I met Mark Dixon and was delighted to hear his testimony of how he came to Christ.

Back to 3G connection

It has been extraordinary how slow internet speeds are in other states in Australia. And amazing how good they are in NSW. For most of the trip around the country we have used our Virgin Mobile Broadband dialup connection on the Optus network.

Now that we are back in NSW I'll upload some of the video's we recorded earlier in the trip.

What a thrill to be back in NSW

Cheers as we came across the border of NSW

We are all getting very excited about coming home. There were loud cheers in the car as we crossed the border into NSW. And what a thrill to see a Sydney paper on sale at a petrol station. We spent Saturday night in Hay.

Sunday morning we were up at 7:30am. We were out and driving with everyone breakfasted and the campervan packed by 8:45. We have got much faster as a family at the breakfast and whole pack up thing. It was originally taking us a good two hours. Then we went hunting for churches in Hay.

Please pray for Hay. The Presbyterians only meet once a month. I can't remember what the Unitings were doing. The Anglicans had a note on the door saying that there was no service today. And when we found the Baptists they were having a slow day.

There was the pastor, his wife and their two kids and a Sri Lankan doctor and his wife and their kids and us. The pastor had not prepared a service and the other church families were away.

The pastor in Hay had been their for 17 years. I think we were an encouragement to them. But they do need a lot of prayer. Solomon particularly prayed an excellent prayer for Hay in the open prayer time in the service. It's a delight to watch the Spirit at work in him.

Then we headed for the south coast where we will spend the rest of this week resting before coming back to Sydney to restart work and life next Monday.

Victoria

We spent most of the day driving through the beautiful South Australian riverlands then through Victoria before we finally stopped at Hay.

BP Adelaide: Our cheapest fill in 19842kms

We went to bed about 11 on Friday night. But Cathie and I were both awake at 1:30am. It was a while before we each realised the other was awake. The wind was so strong and violent. And our campervan is not really designed for super strong winds. And this was a super strong wind. That's what the weather forecast said (I checked it on my iphone). But that's what we felt. And we were camped right by the beach at Adelaide Shores.

After an hour and a half of lying in bed unable to sleep we decided that we may as well get up slowly and then head off at say 4am. Rather than lie in bed frustrated till 7. Then get up. Also it felt like too much pressure was being put on the campervan by the strong winds.

Cathie got up, made us a coffee. Then the wind died down. Then we fell asleep.

We eventually left at about ten am. We saw petrol at $1.06 which was so exciting as we had paid more than a $1 more per litre for several days in a row in parts of the NT. As soon as we had paid $1.06 we saw it on sale for $1.03 so our joy was short lived.

We are getting excited about clicking up 20000km later today

Exploring Adelaide

Cath and Otto had had appointments on Wednesday but were keen to catch up again so we arranged to meet them for coffee at Glenelg.

Then we headed into Adelaide on the tram. I think we are feeling fairly full of tourist things. In fact as tourists we are feeling comfortably full and so really are ready to come home. But we thought since we were in Adelaide we ought to pay it the respect of a visit.

We headed into town. Solomon spotted the AFL store which he found fascinating while I bought lunch.

We managed to find Abraham Harry Potter Seven. He's read most of the series during this holiday.

We found the central Adelaide tourist info place which I though was more helpful than the one in Brisbane. But it still didn't have the 'must do' list of things to do in Adelaide that I've been looking for. Without this list we walked down North Terrace for a while. And this was interesting. There are a great list of South Australian notables who have been turned into busts and statues along the terrace.
We were also struck by the Adelaide war memorial. I think one of the really big lessons of this trip has been the overwhelming impact of the war on our national history. This is obviously something that we new academically before but there has been a significant cumulative impact from seeing so many memorials.

A slow Wednesday

Cathie and I were very tired and had a quiet day at the caravan park. I worked to unplug the campervan sink drain. A slow TV day.

Cath and Otto

Abraham and Solomon waited at the Caravan Park gate to meet Cath and Otto while I enjoyed the first episode of series four. Cath and Otto arrived bringing Indian takeaway. And we had a lovely dinner with them in the campervan. Cath and I worked together for five years. It was really great to catch up with them.

Port Augusta to Adelaide

We were slow starting today and we arrived at Adelaide at about 3pm. The Adelaide Shores campground is enormous. It's got a mini golf, golf course, pools, jumping pillow, amazing laundry, coffee shops. It's a huge resort!

On arrival I headed out to the JB Hi Fi to buy series four and five of the West Wing. I've been really enjoying this series during this trip around Australia. Lots of my friends have been recommending it for years but I have never got around to starting it. Now I have I am hooked.

Ceduna to Port Augusta

At Ceduna after we arrived Solomon lost his AFL ball very high up a tree. The first time he did this we found a pole and knocked the ball out. The second time it was even higher and too high to be reached with the pole. Next morning he climbed on my shoulders and then up the tree.

At first Cathie and I were planning to go the 800km to Adelaide today but in a Sunday night meeting in the laundry at Ceduna's caravan park we decided that that would leave me exhausted and as there was no need to do that instead we would do the more conservative 400km to Port Augusta.

The other thing we did was call Cath and Otto Peeters to see if we could call in on them at Broken Hill on our way back to Sydney. But it turns out they are coming to Adelaide at the same time that we will be there. So we arranged to have dinner with them on Tuesday night.

Lying on the WA/SA border

Because the petrol station was closed at Eucla we had to stop at the SA/WA boarder petrol station which is slightly more expensive. The kids enjoyed lying on the highway again.

On Sunday's we've made it a priority to go to church during this trip. As a family we have only missed one so far. Although Hannah and I were sick on one other Sunday. We had planned to be in Adelaide in time for today but we are still in Eucla and there's no church here and none till Ceduna. So that was disappointing.

Agressive See saws at Eucla

We stopped at the petrol station at Eucla after the hour and a half trip to travel four kilometers from where we started. When we got their the power at the petrol station was out and so we were unable to fill up. We stopped because Cathie had promised Abraham a go on the swings. But the real physical workout on the see saw was between Solomon and Cathie.

Sand dune telegraph station at Eucla

I hurried everyone up during the morning pack up because I was keen to go and see the old Eucla. Apparently the road and the petrol station used to be right on the coast near where the old telegraph station was. This has now been covered up with sand dunes. On my walk back from the toilet a lady told me that there was a turn off west a little that we should turn south towards the coast on.

We headed back the way we came for 25 mins then, as Cathie was loosing patience with my crazy scheme, turned around. 50 mins after we set out back at the caravan park we found the turn off that I had missed.

I think seeing the sand dune covered telegraph station was well worth it. I have become very interested in these old telegraph stations since seeing the one that is well restored and looked after at Tennant Creek. The kids thought it was more fun sliding down the sand.

Overnight at Eucla

Eucla is a petrol station, hotel and carvan park. It's about 4km in
from the coast on the top of the ridge. From the caravan park you can
see the four kilometers to the coast. The caravan park doesn't
provide fresh water except in the toilet handbasins (you are expected
to use the water you bring in yourself).

Nullabor Plain

Bible Teaching

The last few days we have been listening to the Christians in the Media/Annandale Community Church bible talks on the podcast in the car. We've only heard the ones by Andrew Laird and Sam Russell so far and they are excellent. Andrew spoke very emotionally on the verse in Philippians 4:4 'Rejoice Allways.' That was a helpful word for us as earlier that day our campervan had just rolled back into John's mercedes.

Sam's Revelation 3 talk looking at Jesus word to the churches was also excellent. We were left asked each other was their areas of our lives where we were living inconsistently.

While Solomon and Hannah are fully engaged Abraham is tempted to drift off to sleep during the bible talk in the car. We have worked out a new incentive. He is able to watch a DVD with the others afterwards in the back seat if he stays awake.

146.6km completely straight

Today was a big driving day, from Fraser Range Station to Eucla. Not our longest trip ever but a big day. We went on a short walk to the station lookout at the start of the day to burn a little energy then we got into the car.

On leaving Fraser Range we headed first through Australia's largest eucalypt forest on the edge of the Nullabor.

First stop was Balladonia Station. Balladonia has had one day of fame. When Skylab crashed on it in 1979. There was a great little story about US President Jimmy Carter ringing the petrol station to say sorry about the American Space Craft accidentally crashing on their cattle station and offering to put things right.

Then just out of Balladonia was the start of the 90 mile stretch (146.6 km) of straight road. There was another couple parked there who offered to take a photo of our whole family in front of the sign (but he put his finger over the lens so didn't succeed).

We stopped at a Blowhole - only to be disappointed that it was an air blowhole not a water blowhole. And we couldn't really feel much air coming out of it. All a bit underwhelming.

Then there was a few more petrol stations and we finally stopped at Eucla. Just short of the SA border. On;y $20 for accomodation here. Interesting though that they are so short of water that there are no drinking water taps at the caravan park to attach the campervan.

There were two stretches of highway with RFDS landing strips marked. We listened to Sam Russell's talk on Revelation 2 today. I am impressed at the kids concentration. Sam spoke for 54 minutes and they paid attention well. Then the kids watched another two episodes of Lockie Leonard and Star Wars.

1200 Km without a turn & Fraser Range Station

We pulled in to Fraser Range Station 100km east of Norseman for the evening. We stopped on a whim a little earlier than we had planned (4pm). We stopped because we liked the romantic idea of an evening on a cattle station. They were promising station tours, outback life etc. However the owners have destocked and are selling the station, and the guy temporarily in charge of the was from Adelaide and although very friendly it wasn't really what we had expected.

It was freezing in the middle of the night (cold winds across the desert). I am sitting in the car writing this now as the cold wind blows outside and we are about to go on a walk to check out the cattle station before heading off for the day.

After six weeks of filing in the Adelaide couple temporarily running the campground are totally bored and so spoke to us more than any other campground manager.

Cheapest site so far: $25. But you had to pay a $1 for a shower.

Norseman the horse

We drove 200km north to Norseman, which marks the start of the Nullabor Plain. Norseman is a gold city. It started when a horse called Norseman got some quartz with gold in it stuck in it's hoof. The owner inspecting the horses hoof found the quartz with gold, made a land claim, the town started and the gold rush was on. In the first year or so they mined 4,000 ounces of gold and towns population boomed. Now they mine 100,000 ounces per year through the Norseman Gold Mining Company. I thought Norseman was a nice town. There were some quaint character things - most notably a statue of Norseman (the horse) and a series of galvanised iron camels.

Cathie has always been very competitive. But I found a new way today. There was a park with see-saws. Now I hadn't noticed that we don't have see-saws any more in NSW. But our children have grown up without learning to see-saw. So we gave them a go on the Norseman see saws (which were very high quality see saws). Cathie is a competitive aggressive see sawer. I am a more passive see sawer. I didn't much enjoy see sawing with her. But Cathie and Solomon had a lovely competitive aggressive see saw duel and they were both happy.

Hey this was exciting: Sea Lion!

The kids have been setting up the camper trailer on their own for a week or so now. Today they did most of the packing up while Cathie and I had a chat. When we set off we headed down to the beach to look for Solomon's hat and thong that he lost yesterday while fishing (they were blown off the jetty in the wind). Someone had told him there was a chance they may be washed up on the beach.

Anyway we didn't see Solomon's hat or thong, but we saw something much better, a sea lion. First we spotted him sunbaking on the beach. Then we saw him head into the water following a fisherman along the jetty. We worked out that the sea lions keep a close eye on the fishermen. They are interested in eating the scraps when the fishermen clean the fish that they have just caught. The sea lion was joined by a mate and then it headed back up on to the beach. It was a lovely surprise and enormously satisfying.


We listened to a Bible Talk today on Matthew 17.

Fishing in Esperance

A 500 kilometer drive east to Esperance. Pretty uneventful. We arrived at 4pm and had a lovely campsite on the front row of the caravan park overlooking the kids park, overlooking the beach. Esperance claims to have the best beaches in Australia, but it was a little windy to enjoy them. (I watched the last two episodes of season three of the west wing, Cathie had a sleep. Abraham and Solomon went fishing from the Esperance Jetty.

Coming out of Esperance I was pulled over after going through a roundabout. Apparently WA has different indicator laws on roundabouts to NSW and VIC. I was traveling straight through the roundabout and so hadn't indicated (which is the correct way to do it in NSW). But as I was in WA I should have indicated on exit. I said I wouldn't do it again and was leaving the state immediately and that there probably weren't any more roundabouts between here at the WA border. They let me go with a grin!

Locky Leonard

I hadn't heard of this kids TV program. But the Smith's in Perth gave
us the series one DVD. It was filmed in Albany were I am writing from
now. We've really enjoyed the first six episodes which we watched
over the last few days. And we are about to go looking around Albany
to see where it was filmed.

Australia's last whaling station

When I last visited the Whaling Station in 1976 it was still an operating whaling station, the last operating whaling station on the Australian mainland. There was an extraordinary stench from where they guys worked cutting up the whales for whale blubber. Whaling was banned in Australia in 1978 and now all that is a thing of the past.

The whaling station is now a museum, a historical record of the Australian whaling industry.

We arrived at 3:08 and joined the 3pm tour. The whaling station is well set up for tourists. There was an excellent audio presentation on the flencing deck (the deck where they cut up the whales) and four video presentations, one shown in each of the great tanks where they used to store the whale oil. The video presentations were varied: one shown on the floor, another a three screen presentation, one in 3D and the third using a holograph technique.

And we were able to explore the last and largest whaling vessel used in Australia.

So why was I so disappointed with the whaling station? The information, content and presentation was excellent. But the guide made me feel like cattle. I felt rushed through. They had a work crew putting down new tarmac outside the video presentations meaning that I wasn't able to hear the presentations. They felt to me like a successful business that had too many customers and had now grown complacent.

Another night in Albany and our first bath in 70+ days - Wednesday November 12
We left the whaling station at five and didn't feel like setting off for Esperance (or anywhere for that matter). So we went to the other Big-4 in Albany (not wanting to go back to the same park that we had left that morning - as it felt a little weird to have packed the campervan, driven around all day and then driven back with the campervan to the same park). This one was excellent. It had a family bathroom and a bath.

I don't have many baths. But not having had one for 70 days it was lovely for all of us.

And we loved playing table tennis and pool in the games room in the morning.

Shopping

Wednesday morning we woke up slowly, packed the campervan and headed out to the shops. There were a few things to do. We had missed buying meat for the trip to Adelaide (when we were in Perth) so we needed to do that before heading across the Nullabor. Plus we had to get our campervan's spare tyre repaired.

Anyway it took a while and it was half past two by the time we had been to the tourist info station and had lunch and were on our way to Albany Whaling Station.

On the way to the whaling station I reminded Cathie and the kids about my last trip there in 1976 when I got lost in the national park. I was running ahead with my sister Natasha when we had an argument about which way to go. She said to go one way, I said the other. She was right, I was wrong. I was lost for hours in the park.

Where's wally: Gloucester Tree

Gloucester Tree - Tuesday

Cathie on her way up the Gloucster tree
In 1976 when in sixth class on a trip across Australia with my parents
and three sisters I climbed the 60+ meter Gloucster Tree with my dad
(my memory at the time was that it was the tallest tree in
Australia). I am fairly sure that my mum and three sisters sat out.
But as soon as our kids heard that I had climbed it the lobbying
started.

I don't remember that in 1976 there was a sign against children
climbing the tree. Anyway that I had climbed it when in sixth class
meant that the junior lobbiers were not going to be dissuaded. Cathie
and I capitulated and up we went. Abraham first, Cathie second,
Solomon third, then Hannah and then me.

During the climb the NRMA rang to ask me about Sunday's accident (I
had lodged the claim yesterday). I explained that I was halfway up
Australia's tallest tree and they offered to call back.

50 knot winds on the far south west tip of WA

Cape Leewin is the windiest part of Western Australia. It's the place where the Southern and Indian Ocean's meet. There have been 23 ships wrecked off Cape Leewin but only one since the lighthouse was built 100+ years ago (a visionary decision by the Perth Colony unsupported by the Eastern Colonies).

Although the winds were only 27 knots when we were there, they told us stories of the lighthouse keepers cat being blown off the top landing of the lighthouse and being blown several hundred meters through the air and landing bruised and shaken half a kilometer away.

Cathie had a nice time in the coffee shop while the kids and I climbed the lighthouse.

Lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin, the corner of the continent. Southern vs Indian Oceans.

Campervan Quotes

Solomon: How do you know that wasn't a compliment?
Hannah: Because you know me very well. We live in the same caravan.

Cape Leewin at night

We arrived at Cape Leewin just after six. The lighthouse was closed
but Cathie had a bit of a look around while the rest of us waited in
the car - it was freezing. Cape Leewin is the far south western tip
of Australia. We decided to stop for the night at Augusta and to come back in
the morning.

Caving

We were heading for the continent's south west corner but on the way
Abraham was looking at the South West West Australia tourist brochures
and as we drove asked if we could stop at a cave - so we headed to
cave road.

We stopped at 4pm and after paying they gave us flashlights and
helmets. We headed into the cave. You could turn right and go
underground in the dark for 200 meters and then come back to the
entrance and go left for 200meters. First we went right as their was
a school ground doing abseiling in the left hand wing.

The caves were great. On the first trip we enjoyed seeing stalagmites
etc. Two children got in trouble for touching the columns and had to
sit out for part of the exploration.

When we headed left it was great to watch a year ten group absailing
down a tunnel into the caves and to think that in just a few years our
kids will be old enough to do this.

Fishing at Brusselton

The jetty at Brusselton is 1.5killometers long. I took the kids
fishing. Well Solomon and Abraham fished and Hannah and I walked to
the end of the jetty and back. We met a couple of guys over from
Lismore for a friends wedding who co